k. funmilayo aileru — pronouns are xi, xem, and xyr(z) — is a queer, black native artist, curator, and critic. xi uses many different materials and media to work with concepts such as enslavement, dispossession, and genocide. Much of xyr work examines historical and contemporary relationships between technology, Black liberation, and Indigenous sovereignty. xi experiments with expanding and transforming social constructs through speculative perspectives and criticisms.

aileru is a Rhode Island native from the South Side of Providence and a member of the Narragansett Nation. xi is a co-founding member of blackearth collective + lab.

You can find xem on Instagram here. 

Janaya Kizzie is an artist, writer and historian working in Providence. Kizzie considers each work a binding of some kind, in the literal and esoteric sense. Often invoking the tropes of the horror genre, Kizzie experiments with narrative, worldbuilding, and non-linear time. Kizzie's work has been exhibited by the RISD Museum, the Jamestown Arts Center, and the New Bedford Art Museum. In addition, working in archives, Kizzie processed the AS220 Collection, documenting the history of arts and place-making, at the Providence Public Library in 2016 and was named the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities Rhode Island Public Humanities Scholar in 2020. Kizzie served on the board of feminist arts collective, the Dirt Palace, from 2018-2020, and is currently on the board of Homosaurus, an international linked data vocabulary of LGBTQ terms.

You can find Janaya's instagram here. 

Quinn Bryan (she/her) was born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Providence, RI. Bryan earned a BA in Studio Art from Rhode Island College in 2009.

Since childhood Bryan has been surrounded by artists: from the stunning poetry of her father to the textiles and designs made by her mother and grandmother.

Bryan’s focus is to bring light and life to Black and brown people through her art, which spans from the funny and thoughtful to the serious and restrained.

You can find Quinn on Facebook, Instagram, and Etsy. 

kei soares cobb is a cape verdean-american artist +healer working in collaboration with synthesizers, interstitial fluids and the emergent forest for the liberation of all beings. kei's work has been featured at the risd museum, trinity repertory theatre, as220 and is currently on world tour with zimbabwean choreographer, nora chipaumire.

Get some bodywork w/kei!
 
kei soares cobb’s Somatic and Healing Practice can be found here and here.

Becci Davis (she/they) was born on a military installation in Georgia named after General Henry L. Benning of the Confederate States Army. Her birth began her family’s first generation after the Civil Rights Act and its fifth generation post-Emancipation. As a Providence-based visual artist, they find inspiration in exploring archives and commemoration practices, memory, landscapes and connection to place.

Becci earned her MFA from Lesley University College of Art and Design. In 2021, they were the recipient of the Public Humanities Scholar Award, given by the Rhode Island State Council for the Humanities. Becci has also been awarded the St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award in Visual Art, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship in New Genres, and the RISD Museum Artist Fellowship. Their work has been shown nationally in spaces such as Jane Lombard Gallery, Newport Art Museum, TILA Studios, Biennial of the Americas, the Photographic Museum of Humanity, and Burlington City Arts Center. Becci has produced performances in collaboration with the Wilbury Theatre Group, Providence Public Library, PVDFest, and Luna Loba, a ritual performance series curated by Shey Rivera Ríos. Her work has been featured in publications including Root Work Journal, The Photographer’s Green Book, Vol I, and the RISD Museum Manual.

Becci is a member of the WARP Collective. They are currently an Art Foundations Lecturer at Brown University and serve on the Providence Special Committee for the Review of Commemorative Works.

You can find Becci on Instagram here: @bdavissynergy

And on their website here: www.beccidavis.com

To see more images and notes from this episode, check out our page on the RISD Museum website here: risdmuseum.org/black-artist-project/becci-davis